Week Sixteen Blog Entry: "Shift Happens"

This video makes me feel intimidated and excited about the world’s future all at once. Such statements as “by the third year of study, everything they learn in the first year of study will be outdated” make me feel utterly overwhelmed. And furthermore, I don’t believe there is anything our educational system, or any kind of system, can do to prepare us for this kind of future. It is simply too much to keep up with. Oftentimes I feel that our society is focused so much on being bigger, better and producing more and more and more, that the joys of life and the process of development, is lost on us. I feel our society has become unbalanced and addicted to consumption and focused on immediate-gratification, which is unhealthy for us, our families, our society and our surrounding environment. It is scary to me to think of a future society of sleep deprived, stressed out, wasteful and isolated individuals. I believe we have already arrived at this state, and there seems to be no limit, no stopping us now. Since we are “living in exponential times” I cannot even fathom what a future as the video suggests, will really look and feel like.

On the flip side, the video’s prediction of “100 million laptops being shipped to children in underdeveloped countries” make me feel grateful for the advances in our society and sees a benefit to certain populations for such things. Having computers with more knowledge and computing abilities than humans certainly could mean an ability to solve more of the world’s problems. But my thought is that it will only create more problems than it solves. Often times I find myself envying the lives of our ancestors; traveling in horse drawn carriage, living off the land, sleeping from dusk ‘til dawn, enjoying strong family values, consuming only the necessities of life, and taking pleasure in the simplest of things. As the pace of change continues to accelerate, I imagine things like this will be extinct in the very near future if we continue on this path.

It is difficult to see exactly where we are headed. Some social theorists believe we will soon be superseded by a postindustrial society, based on information and service rather than on manufacturing and industrialization. Perhaps this will not be as gloomy as my thoughts are currently taking me. “Information” does sound better, cleaner, and less intrusive than “industrialization.” But it will require a great shift in the way we do things as individuals, as families, as educational and work systems, and as a globalized society. The institutions and especially the culture of our society will transform entirely.